The present invention relates to a stained particle analyzing method and apparatus which automatically carry out classification of samples from living bodies, such as urine or blood, and concentration measurement and classification of particles contained in those samples.
Hitherto, color measurement of samples from living bodies and measurement of particles contained in the samples have been performed by an exactly manual method which comprises the steps of centrifugally separating a sample from a living body, dipping a deposited sediment onto a slide glass and, if necessary, staining it, preparing a specimen, and visually observing the specimen by an inspection engineer or operator using a microscope.
Apart from such a method of manually measuring particles, "Particle Analyzing Apparatus and Method" has been disclosed in JP, B, 3-52573 as an alternative which can automate measurement of blood cell forms. The disclosed "Particle Analyzing Apparatus and Method" is arranged to flow a liquid containing suspended blood cell particles through a flow cell, optically to shoot an image of the particles, and then to analyze the shot image. Specifically, a sample containing particles is caused to flow through a passage including an image shooting area, a still image of the sample is shot in that area, and the still image is subjected to image analysis.